Images captured by a device, such as a mobile phone, are often curved either because the object is curved or because the lens effect. When the image is “flattened” to remove the curve, information on the image can be distorted. For example, an image of a curved paper, or text on a curved image becomes distorted when the image is flattened.
Furthermore, algorithms to flatten curved images tend to be computationally expensive and so are unsuited to implementation in a device with limited processing power such as a mobile device (cell phone, tablet or other such device).
It is within this context that the present embodiments arise.